I had planned to make my first post from college about my new experiences and all the friends I have met. I had planned to talk about going to my first Alabama football game as a student, and not just a rabid fan (Well, not rabid…most of the time). I planned a lot of things. I did not plan on seeing a certain bulletin board about paintball as I was taking my roommate to the library tonight.

Upon just glancing at this bulletin board, the first thing I noticed was a flyer to join a paintball team other UA students. Intrigued, I took a closer look only to find more than I bargained for.

To paint a picture of this flyer, imagine a heavier girl standing next to a guy, paintball guns in hand just smiling at the camera, both covered in pink paint from head to toe. Now obviously, this could mean one of two things. 1) The girl kicked the guy’s butt and then he gave her a hug or 2) she kicked his butt and then promptly shot herself because she forgot her gun was loaded. EITHER WAY, they were both smiling people, apparently happy that paintball had made their average drivel lives a little better (Thank you advertising agencies).

On the other side of this flyer, is a smaller picture of a woman with a paintball gun. Makeup in place, hair in tact, without a spot of paint on her she was either 1) the #1 ranked paintballer in the world, 2) the spokeswoman for new makeup and hair products that were for heavy duty sweat situations or 3) has not actually been in a match yet. This girl was thinner than the aforementioned woman accompanied by her man, and admittedly more attractive. All of the above mentioned is not what caught my eye however.

No, what caught my eye was something that I’m sure my roommate wishes I had not seen because quite frankly I have been ranting about It from the time I saw it about an hour ago…until the time I am posting this which is almost a day later (you may send Tylenol/Advil to the P.O. Box mentioned later).

Under the picture of the woman by herself, one of the nifty RAs had taken it upon herself to write, “If you do not stop using images that objectify women, I will remove the whole sign. If you have any problems with this, you may take it up with me.” (We’ll leave the RAs name out for the moment).

(Crickets chirp, dogs bark, some woman screams in the distance)

WHAT?!

I would understand if this woman didn’t have any clothes on and was simply holding a paintball gun over a certain area with a container of paintballs covering two other areas, but this woman was fully clothed! Not only that, this comment was only under the picture of the more attractive woman that was by herself and not by the picture of the heavier woman accompanied by a man.

Who’s degrading women exactly?

You chose to comment on a picture of a woman with a paintball gun. She was not in a “sexy pose.” There wasn’t nudity (much to every guy in this dorms dismay). She was an older woman…with a paintball gun…and she was FULLY clothed (did I mention that?)

It seems to me that you have chosen to degrade women by your idea that it is not ok for a woman to look slightly attractive and be in a picture that has to do with a sport that guys are mainly interested in. It seems to me that you are so close minded with what women should look like in a picture that you are degrading women and what they can be.

Where is your comment on the picture of the heavier girl with the man?

“Oh, that one is OK because she’s not good looking and she’s with a man.” I can just picture this girl saying this now.

Degrading?

You are degrading women based on your ideal that women can’t be in a picture and be semi attractive with a “sport utility” without it being objectifying or degrading. Heaven forbid there not be a man in the picture, because there has to be a man involved for a female to do anything sports related.

Personally, I thought it was a welcome scene since most of the time, all we see is men in these kinds of ads. Maybe, the person that put the flyer up was trying to make it known that this was a league that welcomed both men and women (of all sizes and appearance criteria).

I sincerely hope this RA signs up for paintball so that I can shoot the crap out of her…even if she is on my team. Oh what joy…and I might just use pink paintballs to do it, and then take a picture by myself and proceed to post it on the Bulletin Board just to prove a point.

(I intend to write a formal letter to the person that commented on this picture, stating the above in a more formal, well written argument. I will post the word document later).

However, I am interested to hear your thoughts. Am I wrong in this? What qualifies as degrading or objectifying women in your opinion?

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"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
— Marilyn Monroe